STUDY
Focus Question: In India, how do students and their teachers approach Civic Engagement and teaching & learning related to Government & Politics?
In India All Real Education is
Architecture of the Soul
In 1981 Uma began the process of starting a school to best serve people with special needs in Delhi. Growing up with a brother with an amputated leg, she wanted to do something to help restore the dignity of those left behind by Indian society. “It was my mission from god. I filled out an application proposal and I brought it before Baba. It was Baba that told me my application would be approved and to name the school, Amar Jyoti, meaning Eternal Light. Baba also gave me the school logo, it was on the paper after I brought Baba the application”. The logo for Amar Jyoti stylistically depicts four items including a crutch, glasses and a hearing aid. After listening intently to Uma’s story, a lead teacher of the school then explained that her driving force was resoundingly Uma’s leadership, then walked me over to the front of the medical center and pointed to a statue on an altar. This is Baba.
Secularism
If asked, all stakeholders involved in the public education in India, whether it be students, teachers or policy makers will maintain India’s public schools are secular. Ingrained in the preamble to the Indian Constitution and displayed in the front pages of all high school textbooks and often in the lobby of public schools is: “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity."
A school textbook located during a school visit to a teacher training site contextualizes the concept of secularism by asking students: “Imagine being a Hindu unable to buy a house in a majority Christian neighborhood in the US.” This example is surprising, as it highlights the private market, not governmental institutions and even more so as is is grounded in the United States. Secularism in India seems to defined as, “the lack of discrimination rooted in the domination of a religion” as opposed to the American notion that the state is separate from religion and that public schools shouldn’t play a role in promoting religious thought, practice or ideology.
Public school students in India are expected and encouraged to engage in morning prayer, chants, mediations and learn in a school building adorned with religious imagery. Principals’ offices and school hallways are adorned with religious imagery and artifacts, in a manner similar to how my principal’s old high school football helmets and martial arts trophies, meant to communicate a fundamental grounding personal experience were used to connect with students and tell a story of what early experiences inspired him to start and lead a school. My host school, Kendriya Vidyalaya Malappuram, an official school of the national government in Kerala has hallways decorated with Hindu, Christian and Islamic scripture and imagery.
Perhaps the desire to be religiously inclusive extends to academic and motivational imagery in the school as well, as a mural of Abraham Lincoln and a letter to his son’s school master can be found directly outside and building. Lincoln is fitting as “In the days that followed Lincoln's death, his mourning compatriots rushed to compare him to Jesus, Moses and George Washington.” Numerous academic scholars that US students haven’t been exposed to can be found illustrated on the walls of KVM. The notion of secularism in India is best understood as religious pluralism and multiculturalism, the act of providing and receiving education in India is at its foundation deeply, deeply spiritual and redefines all typically American notions of separation of church and state as it pertains to secular education.
Deep religious conviction seems to have fueled educational initiatives in India. Today the Amar Jyoti charitable trust is an all in one school and medical center providing children with a barrier free and inclusive primary and secondary school which has a 1:1 ratio of students with and without special needs. Their center provides students and adults with on site medical care ranging from occupational and physical therapy to prosthetics. Their work skills programs help all individuals obtain vital skills to allow for financial independence, increased self esteem and community contribution. Strong religious belief has also inspired new state curriculums written by Delhi’s Department of Education.
Happiness Curriculum
All public school students in Delhi from grades 1-8 engage in a state sponsored happiness curriculum which students, staff and members of the Minister of Education’s staff love to talk about. On several occasions, members of the department shared that it was the Minister’s own experience with his son that inspired the DOE to create a happiness curriculum. When asked about his studies by his father, the Minister’s son spoke of diminished productivity do to a restless mind that was compromised by stress and negative emotional energy. The scope and sequence to the curriculum identifies it as “a scientifically designed course that will prove useful in keeping children’s minds focused in work, let them live harmoniously with family and society but most importantly develop a holistic outlook and perspective on life.” It also speaks to socioeconomic challenges, self esteem, topics that often underlie educational conversations in the United States. Documents such as the triad of happiness defines concepts such as “momentary happiness built on material possessions and deeper happiness related to self actualization, and goal setting related to community and national priorities” reads like a spiritual guide or self help book. Happiness curriculum utilizes mindfulness, joyful exercises, games, inquiry, storytelling, discussion, role play and activities to, “develop a holistic approach to education in a universal context.” School leaders and administrators are eager to get a better understanding to the overall effect of the curriculum especially when one cannot directly control the happiness of those facilitating the curriculum nor the socioeconomic status of those receiving it.
The Happiness Scope & Sequence can be found Here
Entrepreneurial Mindset
Another initiative touted by Delhi’s DOE is the Entrepreneurial Mind curriculum for secondary school students. Before my field placement, I visited the Khichripur School of Excellence, a new, screened school established to compete with private schools that has quickly started snatching up middle and lower class students that traditionally attended private schools. When I asked the students leading me around the school, how many of them wanted to start their own business, about 30% of them raised their hands. This is pretty typical of my government and economics students in NYC. What isn’t typical is when asked why they wanted to be entrepreneurs, students spoke of a love and devotion to their communities, the desire to create jobs for others and be leaders for India and the world. Money didn’t enter the equation nor did the desire to be their own boss. Although I haven’t seen the entrepreneurial mindset curriculum designed by the Delhi State Department of Education, I was told by leadership that it emphasizes, “soft skills, the desire to foster communities through workforce and elevate the dignity of work.” As an economics teacher who specializes in teaching personal finance through experience and simulation, and having required students to develop business plans for franchises students think would be most successful in their state, I was surprised to find out that the course does not emphasize research and business planning. When asked what type of work products students must create to develop and demonstrate proficiency in business planning and management, I learned that there was a standardized exam that assessed knowledge related to entrepreneurial thinking.
Civic Mindset
Vikas, a 19 year old who I sat next to on the plane to Bangalore on his way to complete his air force training, discussed his motivation for applying and enlisting in the Air Force as a deep longing and desire to protect the nation and make India great. Now, I’m not saying that my students that enlist don’t also feel this but, they would never have expressed themselves this way , even when probed and prompted. Often students will lead with reasons that explain the skills that they are hoping to obtain, the career they are hoping to build and perhaps the desire to gain respect and admiration from friends and family.
After Vikas admitted to eavesdropping on my conversation with the flight attendant and reading the beginnings of this article over my shoulder, he asked, “So you are a teacher correct?” and preceded to identify what he saw as the strengths and challenges of education in India. “Students are very respectful and eager to learn. Schools are supportive and caring environment. We approach school with seriousness and we want to learn as much as possible to help build our country into an even greater nation. I want to make this country a better place for others. Our teachers care about us and want to fill us with compassion and honor.” When asked if he thought this level of community could exist without a sense of spirituality, Vikas unwaveringly believed they couldn’t. “School leaders must approach their job as a mission or religious calling. They should be very spiritual.”
Within the same textbook which discussed secularism, a section on the India constitution reads: “Different areas of the Indian constitution are complicated ideas that are difficult to grasp. Don’t worry too much about this at the moment as the constitution also mentions fundamental duties. Find out with the help of your teacher what these include and why it is important for citizens in a democracy to observe these.” The emphasis on civics and on the need to serve others appears to be deeply connected to the role of government as well.
The Role of Politics & Government
During the School of Excellence’s welcome assembly program, students performed a creative silent play in pantomime illustrating common wasteful environmental practices and their consequences on society. When I later talked with these students about what they believed to be the most purposeful way to environmental reform, students steered the conversation back to what they can do as individuals to waste less and reduce, reuse, and recycle. When I asked these students why the environment is a problem and what they and their classmates can do about it, they emphasized individual root causes that contribute to water waste and garbage over systemic causes for environmental concerns and individual acts such as turning off lights, faucets and recycling.
Some of the most interesting conversation came out of me asking questions such as why aren't you and your fellow citizens not reducing, reusing and recycling as much as they could? The students I spoke with placed much emphasis on individual action. "People don't think about the consequences of their actions. If we focused more on how our individual actions positively or negatively impact our society, people will be more likely to do the right thing." Students either often hesitated or struggled to develop claims or arguments regarding the government's role in promoting such environmental policies. When I asked students about how their teachers approached teaching about government and politics in the context of India’s recent national election, a student leader shared that her classroom participated in a debate of the relevant issues. When I asked her to identify some of the issues that were most important to her and her classmates she spoke to the desire to end government corruption and improve the environment, but had difficulty arguing for a specific policy or platform that would help achieve those goals. Our conversations also seemed to downplay any political or ideological difference between her classmates at school.
The principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Malappuram, Kerala passionately discussed the need for students to debate the policies and not the candidates. “Students need to discuss both sides of a policy, there is no democracy without open debate and an opposition. I’ve seen students debate nationalism in class and when parents called me concerned I explained the purpose of the activity and that students, regardless of their feelings, need to learn how to argue either side.” During my time coteaching at KVM I helped facilitate two small classroom debates connected to the curriculum students were discussing, one on the government’s role in using eminent domain to displace tribal communities for national public works projects and the other on whether or not India should change its national sport from field hockey to cricket? Upon the conclusion of these lessons, I asked students students to reflect on the content, process and premise of these classroom activities. Students identified the opportunity to debate with their classmates as an important activity that stood out in the classes. See below.
Student Voice
The guru disciple relationship is very much still alive in India’s education system. As my colleagues and I sat with our red flame bindis, marigold leys and a few stray pink rose petals still clinging to our heads after being warmly welcomed to the District Institute of Education and Training, I made sure to meticulously record all the activities teachers in training lead their classmates in during morning assembly, a fixture in all Indian schools. 1.Mediation, the teachers in training engage in various chanting exercises 2. A thought of the day on a moral issue is delivered by a preservice teacher in English. 3.Yoga, a preservice teacher leads the students in 5 minutes of yoga. 4.News of the day, a presentation of world news headlines and weather. 5.A preservice teacher asks and calls upon classmates to answer two knowledge questions in which students volunteer to be called upon and answer the questions at attention. 6. A sermon on the power of unity and morality and education’s role in creating a human caring system and that, “No child should be left behind”, a term used in India before becoming adopted in the US. 7.Lecture on Gutra’s teachings on suffering and desire. 8.Mindful listening exercise in which participants engage in deep breathing and reflect on how many and what sounds were heard.
It wasn’t until my field placement in Kerala that I understood the premise of organizing teacher training in this manner, that these same activities play out every school day as facilitated by students during their morning assembly. Students at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Malappuram cheered on my last day when I identified morning assembly as the practice that most resonated with me from my time spent at the school. Every upper class student is given the opportunity to facilitate a small portion of morning assembly during the school year. Also, all students are given the opportunity to run for assembly leader and vote for a classmate running for this position. Obtaining a formal position in the morning lineup is a major point of pride. Every morning students gather outside to stand at attention, meditate, pray and chant in unison, listen to the daily news, sing the national anthem with accompanying instruments with every student’s hand raised in salute.
Final Thoughts
Teaching in America is becoming less appealing from the perspective of staffed teachers and perception of high school graduates no longer being attracted into the profession. In NYC, one out of every four teachers drop out of the system after the first year of teaching. Teachers aren’t just fleeing the city’s system but are leaving the profession all around the country. The daily struggles that teachers bemoan on a regular basis are real. Students in secular public schools can be disrespectful, disrupt class, and on occasion become violent with each other and the adults trying to support them. Teachers often receive little support from administration and parents. This manifests into the mindset struggle of “these kids need me vs these kids don’t deserve me.” All of this is compounded when the racial makeup of the student body does not match that of the staff.
In India, the educational workforce is just as complicated. Similar to how institutions of higher education in America under-employ tenure track professors and over-employ adjuncts, India hires temporary teachers yet maintains a long waiting list of certified educators desiring to seek employment in public schools. Principals have zero hiring power for their schools. Teachers desiring to teach at national schools, the highest paid teaching positions in the country and are often required to relocate every 8 years to serve communities most in need of credentialed educators. Overall, I’ve found students in India very respectful, disciplined, playful, extroverted, eager to learn, willing to try, open to failure, coachable and curious.
One of the most striking differences between India and American schools is the lack of self segregation on the part of students. Although students are often segregated by gender to different sides of the classroom for the purpose as explained by staff as to "limit distraction," students themselves seem to associate and be friends with an array of classmates outside of their skin tone or religious affiliation.
In India, the educational workforce is just as complicated. Similar to how institutions of higher education in America under-employ tenure track professors and over-employ adjuncts, India hires temporary teachers yet maintains a long waiting list of certified educators desiring to seek employment in public schools. Principals have zero hiring power for their schools. Teachers desiring to teach at national schools, the highest paid teaching positions in the country and are often required to relocate every 8 years to serve communities most in need of credentialed educators. Overall, I’ve found students in India very respectful, disciplined, playful, extroverted, eager to learn, willing to try, open to failure, coachable and curious.
One of the most striking differences between India and American schools is the lack of self segregation on the part of students. Although students are often segregated by gender to different sides of the classroom for the purpose as explained by staff as to "limit distraction," students themselves seem to associate and be friends with an array of classmates outside of their skin tone or religious affiliation.
From morning assembly, to the various student led cultural programs, to student led potluck lunches, to students overall respect and decorum, it is obvious to all guests and visitors that the students in India take pride in their schools. The ritual and practice of morning assembly helps to center students before they go off to their classrooms to learn and appears to be a driving force behind building a strong school culture focused on strong student to student ties and pride in their school. Above, students at KVM students were excited to show off how they recently painted their classroom with the support of their teacher and received praise for their work in the local news.
The biggest challenges facing the Indian education system also appear to be the same as the US. The importance of test scores as the driving force behind curriculum, instruction and pedagogy, was identified as the largest obstacle by teachers and staff as stifling innovation and creativity in the classroom. Similarly, reducing suffering and promoting happiness is a noble aim and it should be encouraged whether it be happiness curriculum, mindfulness or socioemotional learning. But to do so ethically and effectively, teachers need to help students acknowledge that personal stress also has societal causes. Failing to address collective suffering, and a need for systemic change that might remove it, they rob mindfulness of its real revolutionary potential, reducing it to something banal that keeps people focused on themselves as opposed to a force for community action.
Finally, my neighbor on the plane Vikas was equally as communicative about how schools must improve and said it best “We need to be doing more active learning. We need to be making things. I was always frustrated that we would discuss experiments or watch videos of experiments without doing them ourselves. Our students, when they graduate, should be producing the newest technologies, products and services. How are we going to do this if we are just expected to sit, listen and respond when questioned in school? It’s like expecting someone to learn how to play cricket by discussing the game and watching it on television. If students want to improve the environment, they should be coming up with solutions to these problems in their school. Don't just talk about it, do something about it.”
Finally, my neighbor on the plane Vikas was equally as communicative about how schools must improve and said it best “We need to be doing more active learning. We need to be making things. I was always frustrated that we would discuss experiments or watch videos of experiments without doing them ourselves. Our students, when they graduate, should be producing the newest technologies, products and services. How are we going to do this if we are just expected to sit, listen and respond when questioned in school? It’s like expecting someone to learn how to play cricket by discussing the game and watching it on television. If students want to improve the environment, they should be coming up with solutions to these problems in their school. Don't just talk about it, do something about it.”
My time teaching and learning in India has left me contemplating the following:
1.To what extent can happiness curriculum initiatives or even mindfulness be successful without strong underlying religious undertones? Is mindfulness possible in a secular society?
2.Should school systems prioritize spiritual and emotional self improvement or career readiness and higher order thinking skills?
3.How should school systems balance its desires for cohesion, tradition and accountability with student voice, choice and innovation in schooling?
1.To what extent can happiness curriculum initiatives or even mindfulness be successful without strong underlying religious undertones? Is mindfulness possible in a secular society?
2.Should school systems prioritize spiritual and emotional self improvement or career readiness and higher order thinking skills?
3.How should school systems balance its desires for cohesion, tradition and accountability with student voice, choice and innovation in schooling?
